Inflatable tents



July 21, 1959 M. R. DIMOND INFLATABLE TENTS Filed May 2, 1957 UnitedStatesV Patent O INFLATABLE TENTS Merill R. Dimond, Punta Gorda, Fla.Application May 2, 1957, Serial No. 656,544 1 Claim. (ci. 13s- 1) Thisinvention relates to new and useful improvements in tents, and theprincipal object of the invention is to provide an inflatable tent whichmay be quickly and easily erected 4by the use of compressed air andwhich may `be readily deilated, when desired, into a compact form forconvenient transportation or storage.

As such, an important feature of the invention resides in forming thewalls of the tent from flexible sheets disposed in a suitable angularrelation to provide the tent enclosure, and providing flexible air ductsat the angular junctions of such sheets, so that when air under pressureis delivered into the ducts, the same assume a substantially rigid formand maintain the tent in an erected position without the use of anypoles, guides, cables, or other conventional supports.

Another important feature yof the invention resides in a novelstructural arrangement of the air ducts themselves, the same being soarranged that portions of the tent walls constitute components of theducts.

Another feature of the invention resides in the provision of means atthe lower edges of the walls for anchoring the tent to the ground orfloor.

Another feature of the invention resides in the provision of aninflatable frame at a door opening of the tent, and an inflatable doormounted in such a frame.

Some of the advantages of the invention reside in its simplicity ofconstruction, in its durability, and in its adaptability to economicalmanufacture.

With the above more important objects and features in view and suchother objects and features as may become apparent as this specificationproceeds, the invention will be understood from the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, whereinlike characters of reference are used to designate like parts, andwherein:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the invention;

Figure 2 is a top plan view thereof;

Figure 3 is a fragmentary sectional View on an enlarged scale, takensubstantially in the plane of the line 3-3 in Figure l;

Figure 4 is a sectional detail on an enlarged scale, taken substantiallyin the plane of the line 4 4 in Figure 3;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary sectional detail of a modified form of theinvention wherein the tent is provided with a iioor;

Figure 6 is a fragmentary perspective view of a modied door arrangementembodied in the tent; and

Figure 7 is a fragmentary sectional detail, taken substantially in theplane of the line 7-7 in Figure 6.

Referring now to the accompanying drawing in detail, the inflatable tentis designated generally by the reference numeral 10 and, as shown inFigures 1 and 2, is of a substantially pyramidal shape, including a setof side walls 11 terminating in an apex or vertex 12. Any number of suchside walls may `be provided, depending upon the geometrical pattern ofthe base of the tent which, of course, need not be square asillustrated, but may also be in the form of a triangle, a pentagon,hexagon, etc.

The side walls 11 are preferably outwardly convexed as shown and areprovided at their angular junctions with inturned edges 13 which aresuitably secured together, as is best shown in Figure 4. i

Air ducts 14 are provided at the langular junctions of the side walls11, each of these ducts consisting of a pair of complemental strip-likemembers 15 having adjacent inner edges 16 thereof secured together, andoutturned outer edges 17 secured to the side walls 11 at opposite sidesof the secured edges 13, so that` the members 15 coact with the adjacent(portions of the walls 11 in forming the ducts, as will be clearly`apparent from Figure 4.` The side walls 11, of course, are in the formof sheets, and the provision of the members 15 facilitate formation ofthe ducts 14 without the necessity of embodying such ducts in the wallforming sheets themselves.

Both the wall forming sheets 11 and the duct members 15 are formed fromsuitable exible material such as plastic, lor the like, in which eventthe secured edges 13,`

16, 17 may be heat sealed for simplicity of construction.

'Ilhe ducts 14 extend from the lower edges of the walls 11 to the vertex12 at which point the ducts are in communication with one another.Moreover, a suitable inflating valve 18 is provided at this point,whereby air under pressure may be delivered into the ducts for inflatingthe same.

When the ducts arc inflated, they become substantially rigid and supportthe side walls 11 of the tent in an erected position without the use ofany posts, guides, cables, or other conventional supporting means. `Onthe other hand, by deflating the ducts, the tent may be quickly andeasily folded into a compact form for convenient storage ortransportation. By virtue of the aforementioned outward convexity of theside walls 11, the ducts 14 are of an arcuate form which effectivelyresists bending, so that only a small amount of air pressure is requiredin the ducts for supporting the tent.

The lower ends of the ducts are closed as indicated at 19 and means areprovided for anchoring the tent to the -ground or floor. These meanscomprise an outturned anchoring strip 2t) provided at the lower edges`of the side walls 11 and extending peripherally of the tent, the strip20 being formed with apertures 21 to receive suitable fastening elementssuch as the stakes 22 for anchoring the tent.

The tent need not be provided with a floor, but if preferred, a floorpanel 23 of exible material may be used as shown in Figure 5. Themarginal edge portion of this panel underlies the anchoring stripI 20and is formed with apertures 24 in register with the apertures 21, toaccommodate the fastening elements 22.

As shown, the tent may be equipped with one or more windows 25 and witha simple door 26. On the other hand, as shown in Figures 6 and 7, aninflatable door frame 27 may be provided around a door opening in one ofthe side walls, to accommodate an inflatable door 26m which is mountedin the frame 27 by a piano-type hinge 28, of suitable flexible material.Both the outer edge of the door frame and the door 26a are disposed in avertical plane, the door frame preferably assuming the form of acontinuous duct of a triangular cross-section, while the door itself isformed from juxtaposed ducts 29 of a triangular or circularcross-section, so that when such ducts are inflated, they support thedoor frame and the door in a rigid form.

Suitable valve means are of course provided for inilating and dcflatingthe door and its frame, simultaneously with or independently of the tentstructure. It may be also noted that while the tent inating valve 181 isshown as -being disposed at the apex 12, it may be located at anysuitable point, in communication with the ducts 14.

While in the foregoing there have been shown and described the preferredembodiments of the invention, various modications may become apparent tothose skilled in the art to which the invention relates. Accordingly, itis not desired to limit the invention to this disclosure, and variousmodifications may be resorted to, such as may liewithin the spirit andscope of the appended' claim.

What is claimed as new is:

InV aninilatable tent, the combination of a pluralityof substantiallytriangular flexible wall forming sheets each having a base edge and apair of convergent side edges and being curved in a plane transverse tothe base edge thereof, said sheets being disposed in mutually adjacentrelation wherein side edges of the adjacent sheets are contiguous andsecured together and wherein the base edges of the sheets are in angularrelation whereby the upper.V corners of the sheets unite in an apex atthe top of the tent, an out-turned anchoring strip provided at the baseedges of said sheets and formed with apertures to receive fasteningelements for anchoring the tent to the ground, a plurality of strip-likemembers provided inside the tent in overlapping relation with thecontiguous side edges of the adjacent sheets, side edges of saidstrip-like members being secured to the side edge portions of theadjacent sheets and coacting therewith to form air ducts extending fromthe base of the tent to the apex thereof,

said air ducts having closed lower ends and communicating with oneanother at the apex of the tent, valve means for delivering air underpressure to said ducts, a substantially rectangular inflatable doorframe provided at the edges of a substantially rectangular door openingformed -in one of said sheets, and a substantially rectangular dooradapted for ination mounted in said frame, said door frame and said doorbeing curved in the plane of the associated door forming sheet.

Refer-ences Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,123,657 Bache Jan. 5, 1915 1,964,818 Hood July 3, 1934 2,070,244 StaabFeb. 9, 1937 2,297,150 Hunter Sept. 29, 1942 2,682,274 Miller .Tune 29,1954 2,782,794 White Feb. 26, 1957 2,830,606 Daughtery Apr. 15, 19582,837,101 Bary lune 3, 1958 FOREIGN PATENTS 201,327 Australia Dec. 15,1955 992,086 France July 4, 1951

